


your eyes'll lead me straight back home

by liefde



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Best Friends, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:00:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25636192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liefde/pseuds/liefde
Summary: Carlos and Lando pretend to be dating in order to win a free holiday - only to realise they're in love with each other.
Relationships: Lando Norris/Carlos Sainz Jr
Comments: 13
Kudos: 119
Collections: Summer Break Fics 2020





	your eyes'll lead me straight back home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [scarletred](https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarletred/gifts).



Lando’s laying on Carlos’ bed, lazily scrolling through Instagram, when he sees the ad.

  
_You’re under 25, and you’ve always wanted to go on an amazing exotic free holiday with your boy/girlfriend? Don’t feel like spending that money you don’t even have? If you said yes to the previous questions, then today is your lucky day! Just send us a video of you and your partner, telling us why we need to choose you two for this holiday! And who knows… maybe we’ll see you both on an exotic island, sipping on cocktails in two months!_

  
Holy shit, Lando thinks. Holy freaking shit.

“Carloooooooos”, Lando calls his best friend, who’s studying at his desk by the window.

  
“Landooooooo”, Carlos replies, in the same singsong tone.

  
“I know I should let you study, but I think this is important enough for you to take a break”, Lando says, sounding as dramatic as he can.

  
Carlos turns around in his desk chair, facing Lando. He raises one eyebrow and asks: “Please say it’s not because you saw another funny picture of a squirrel again?”

  
Lando genuinely looks offended and lets out a gasp, putting his hand on his heart. Carlos starts laughing and rolls his eyes fondly. “Your heart is on the left side of your chest, you muppet”, he laughs and shakes his head. “How did you even pass your first year?”

  
Lando blushes and quickly removes his hand. “Hey, stop offending me!”

  
Carlos laughs again and smiles. “So, tell me why you desperately wanted my attention?”

  
Lando rolls his eyes and throws his phone to him, the ad still on his screen. Carlos starts reading it, and he frowns, slightly confused.

  
“A couple’s vacation?”

  
“Yes!”, Lando practically squeals. “We can win a free vacation! We just have to apply!”

  
“But… we’re not a couple? I thought a couple’s vacation was meant for couples?”

  
Lando sighs and shakes his head. “And you’re the one who’s asking me how I passed my first year.” 

  
Carlos is silent for a couple of seconds, Lando still looking at him with the same smug face and then Carlos finally realizes what Lando’s hinting at. “You mean… we act like we’re a couple to win the trip?”

  
Lando grins and says: “Exactly!”

  
“But… isn’t that kind of cheating?”

  
Lando shrugs. “Maybe? But who cares if a lovey-dovey couple wins or if we win? We’re poor university students who actually deserve it after a year of hard studying!”

  
Carlos squints his eyes and Lando can barely contain his laughter. “What? I study!”

  
“In your dreams, maybe”, Carlos says under his breath and throws Lando’s phone back. “Do we know it’s legit though?”, he asks and Lando rolls his eyes. 

  
“Of course it’s legit, it’s a contest from a travel agency! And what if it isn’t? The worst thing that could happen is that we end up on a documentary about stupid people getting phished on the internet! As long as we don’t give them our bank account code and passwords we should be fine.”

  
Carlos laughs and sighs. “Alright. I have to admit your idea doesn’t sound too bad. So, while I study, you can start thinking about a master plan.”

  
Lando’s eyes grow big with excitement and he jumps off the bed. “Yes! I love you! No homo though!”, Lando exclaims and quickly hugs Carlos from behind.

  
Yep, no homo. Great, Carlos thinks and sighs softly to himself. He feels so dumb. He's glad he can pretend to be studying while he thinks about the stupid crush he has on Lando. He's been crushing on him since basically the first moment they met in the hallway of the student residence. They've only known each other for a year, but they just instantly hit it off and now it feels like they've been friends forever. 

  
It just sucks that Lando is straight, but he'll get over it. Well, Carlos just assumes he's straight anyway, since he's never even said anything that possibly indicates him being gay. And Lando probably just assumes that Carlos is straight as a pole too, or maybe he hasn’t even thought about it.

  
He's tried dropping a few hints about him not being so straight though, but none of them have worked yet - Lando truly is the most innocent and oblivious person ever - and he was just slowly giving up and starting to get over this crush when Lando suddenly wants them to pretend to be a couple. Great, really great.

-

  
“So, how are we going to do this again?”, Lando asks and Carlos can’t help but laugh.

  
“I thought you were the one that came up with an amazing master plan for this?”

  
They’re sitting on the bed in Lando’s room this time, Lando’s phone dangerously standing on a pile of books that is supposed to be an improvised tripod. 

  
“I did! I just want your take on it too, you being the smart one of the two of us”, Lando explains and Carlos frowns.

  
“Don’t put yourself down like that, you’re smart.”

  
“Aww, thanks!” Lando smiles and blushes a bit. “So I thought, we could maybe just introduce ourselves, and then basically tell the story of how we became friends but make some feelings up, you know? So not exactly lying, but just adding a bit of fantasy.”

  
Carlos laughs and says: “Alright. I’ll just improvise right?”

  
“Exactly”, Lando agrees and pushes the record button.

  
It feels kind of weird doing this, Carlos thinks while he’s watching Lando introducing himself. He’s lying about having feelings but he’s actually not even lying. How did he even end up in this?

  
He’s daydreaming and he realizes he’s been looking at Lando the whole time and it must’ve looked a tad bit creepy and then he hears Lando saying “so that’s me basically, and now it’s my amazing hot Spanish boyfriend’s turn” and Carlos thinks he’s going to jump in the air from happiness and cry at the same time when he hears Lando saying that.

  
“Er- so I’m Carlos, I’m also 20 and I’m studying engineering. As you may hear, I’m from Spain but decided to study here, and I’m very glad I did because that’s how I met my boyfriend Lando”, he says with a smile and he hopes it doesn’t sound as if his heart is slowly breaking while he’s saying that, because it definitely is. 

  
“I love football, particularly Real Madrid, if anyone is interested in that. I’m also quite fond of Formula 1, a passion I share with this guy here”, he says with a smile and points to Lando. “There’s not really anything else to tell about me I believe, I’m not really that interesting”, he laughs and Lando shakes his head.

  
“You’re interesting enough for me”, Lando whispers and then hugs him. Carlos wants to scream.

  
“So er-”, he starts after having composed himself, “- we actually met in the hallway of our student residence, we started talking because he was wearing an F1 cap and, to be honest, I just used it as an excuse to chat to him as the only thing I could think about at that moment was shit, this guy is cute.”

  
“Then one of the days we were hanging out in my room and watching a race together, I just decided to go for it, because I was sure I wasn’t the only one feeling whatever was going on between us. And turns out I was right”, he concludes and smiles at Lando, in the fondest and most in love way possible.

  
He doesn’t even have to try.

  
Lando looks truly stunned because of his ‘improvising’ for a second and quickly gets into his ‘lovesick idiot’ role again by giving Carlos another hug and pressing a kiss to his cheek. “You’re so sweet!”, he gushes and Lando actually deserves an Oscar.

  
“I know, cariño”, he whispers and slipping a Spanish term of endearment in? He needs to take advantage while he still can.

  
“Anyway, before this won’t be rated for general audiences anymore”, Lando says with a wink, “we still have to tell you why we need to win this vacation!”

  
They finish the video a couple of minutes later after giving the most convincing arguments they could come up with, both sighing contently when Lando ends the recording.

  
"I think that was great, no?", Carlos asks and Lando nods.

  
"That was definitely great. I'll just have to edit this and I will send it tonight then."

  
Carlos smiles and gives Lando a one-armed hug. "I'm glad I agreed to do this. Getting away on a free holiday after exams wasn't one of your worst ideas", he teases and Lando gasps, fake offended and Carlos just rolls his eyes fondly at his joking antics.

  
"I've been thinking about something though," Carlos says, "shouldn't we tell our friends?"

  
Lando looks as if he's just realised that is actually a thing they should be doing. "Maybe if we win? There's no point in telling them out crazy plan if it doesn't work out. Then they'll laugh for eternity at us!"

  
"True", Carlos agrees, "let's just say nothing about it until they discover something is up or if we win."

  
Carlos lets himself fall on his back on the bed and Lando does the same. They're so close that if Carlos would just move his head slightly, he'd be able to kiss Lando. He wishes he could actually do that without ruining their friendship.

  
-

  
Carlos knows they've won when Lando storms into his room, tackles him to the ground and hugs him so tight all air is being pressed out of his lungs.

  
"We freaking won Carlos!", Lando yells excitedly into his ear and Carlos can't even believe it.

  
"You're joking."

  
"Am not!", Lando laughs and makes them both fall on the bed. "We're going to the Caribbean in a month! Can you believe it?"

  
Carlos shakes his head. "Holy shit. We're going on a free vacation!"

  
"We are!" Lando's eyes are glistening with excitement and he just stares at the ceiling, completely in awe. Carlos doesn't know what to say either. This is huge.

  
"They sent me an email a couple of minutes ago, and I had been refreshing my inbox the whole day since they were announcing the winner today, and then suddenly I got a notification and it was there. I can barely believe it! They chose us because they loved our chemistry and honesty and because they thought we really deserved a holiday. I mean... how awesome is this?"

  
"It's totally awesome!", Carlos says loudly and then suddenly someone opens the door.

  
"What is totally awesome? Or were you saying who? Because that would be me", Daniel suddenly says while entering Carlos' room, eyes falling on the two best friends lying on the bed.

  
"Oh, am I interrupting something?", he asks with a grin and jumps on the bed, between the two of them.

  
Lando and Carlos both roll their eyes and Daniel frowns. "Hey, hey! A bit more excitement to see your favourite Australian friend would be nice!"

  
"We are pleased to see you, but we were discussing something important", Lando explains and Daniel has got his grin back.

  
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot. You were talking about something awesome!"

  
And that's how Carlos and Lando end up explaining their whole - now very successful- awesome plan to Dan, Max, Alex and George over pizza that evening.

  
"You guys are pure geniuses!", Alex says in awe and George agrees. "Faking a relationship to get a free trip... we should've done that!", George jokingly says to Alex.

  
"Hey!", Alex lightly slaps George on his upper arm, "thanks for being so glad you're my actual boyfriend!" George rolls his eyes fondly and quickly presses a kiss to his boyfriend's hair.

  
"I agree with them, Dan", Max says while taking another bite, "we should've applied too. It's your fault for not seeing this contest, you're basically on your phone 24/7!"

  
"Yeah right", Daniel scoffs, "as if you would make a video with me. You're so lazy!"

  
"Am not! And I would do it for a free vacation, I'm not that lazy!"

  
Lando and Carlos grin at each other while the two actual couples are doing their married couple bickering thing. "How cool is it that the only fake couple won a couples holiday?", Lando says and Carlos laughs.

  
Yeah, totally cool, he thinks. Awesome. Being in a fake relationship with the guy he's practically in love with totally did not ruin all his chances of actually getting together. If he had a chance to start with anyway...

  
But at least he's going on a vacation with his best friend for free, so it's not like he has a lot to complain about. There are bigger problems than his miserable love life.

  
Carlos looks at Lando laughing at one of Dan's dumb jokes and shit– how can someone be this adorable? How is that even possible?

  
-

  
"You have your passport with you right?", Lando asks Carlos for what feels like the thousandth time in an hour, and Carlos rolls his eyes.

  
"Yes. I have everything in my rucksack and suitcase. Don't stress!"

  
They're in the taxi – yes, a taxi! – on their way to the airport, a glass of champagne in their hand, after being picked up at Lando's place by a driver the travel agency had sent.

  
"Do you still think milk is better when you're having this champagne?", Carlos asks with one eyebrow raised. Lando laughs and answers: "Yep. I still think milk is better."

  
They're arriving at the place the taxi is supposed to drop them off and Lando grabs Carlos' hand excitedly, making Carlos feel all fuzzy inside. He rolls his eyes at himself, because really? He just feels like a stupid teenager with an even more stupid crush. 

  
"Are you actually ready to spend ten hours with me on this flight?", Lando asks when they're checking in, a mischievous smile on his face and Carlos raises an eyebrow.

  
"Lando, I have to spend the next two weeks with you, so I think I'll have to be able to survive being sat ten hours next to you, don't you think?"

  
Turns out that wasn't too difficult, since the only thing Lando apparently does on a plane is sleep on Carlos' shoulder. It's adorable, really. Carlos softly strokes his hair, absentmindedly, and he sees one of the stewardesses giving him a soft look that makes his heart kind of ache.

  
Lando wakes up a couple of times when there is a bit of turbulence, his eyes droopy and honestly, how is falling in love with him not the logical thing to do?

  
"Are we there yet?", Lando asks when they've touched down, completely disoriented and Carlos smiles fondly. "Yes, we're here. You ready for two weeks together with me?"

  
Lando lifts his head from Carlos' should and blushes. "Yeah, I definitely am. I'm sorry for drooling all over you", he says embarrassedly, eyes looking at the ground.

  
"Hey, that's all right. You didn't drool too much", Carlos reassures him jokingly and gives him a soft pat on his shoulder.

  
After they've taken their hand luggage and picked up both of their suitcases, they are welcomed by a hostess of the fancy hotel they're going to stay at and led to another taxi.

  
"I feel like a famous star", Lando gushes and Carlos nods his head, agreeing. This is awesome.

-

  
They arrive at the hotel, and after checking in someone gives them a fancy cocktail and Lando thinks he's going to get a bit tipsy.

  
The room is absolutely wonderful, and it's not even a room, more like a separate little house. They have their own swimming pool, like what even.

  
"And this is the king-sized bed", the woman giving the tour opens the door to yet another room, where a huge bed with rose petals all over it stands. 

  
"This is so romantic", Lando can't help but let out in awe and Carlos has never wished more that their relationship wouldn't be fake. He even has to admit that he'd kind of forgotten that they were supposed to be dating, and he doesn't know if it is because of the fact that he's distracted by this awesome vacation or because they've practically always acted like an old married couple.

  
"I know", the woman says with a smile, "this is one of our honeymoon trip rooms. It's lovely."

  
"It is", Carlos agrees and sits down on the incredibly soft bed.

  
They’ve slept in the same bed a couple of times before, mostly after drunken nights or just because one of them was too lazy to go back to their own room after a night of playing video games. But this is different. Carlos hopes he won’t freak Lando out by accidentally spooning him for ten days straight - or god forbid - by getting a hard-on.

  
"So", she concludes and smiles at the both of them, "the only thing that's left for me to do is to wish you a pleasant stay and if you need anything, just call us or come to the reception at any time you want."

  
"Thank you", they say in unison and when they're alone, Carlos lets his head fall on one of the even softer pillows and Lando jumps face-first on the bed, falling on Carlos' chest.

  
"I love life", he says, voice muffled by Carlos' T-shirt and Carlos laughs.

  
"Me too. I'm glad you came up with that master plan of yours. This place is awesome."

  
Carlos closes his eyes, just taking the moment in, Lando's head on his chest and he thinks he's possibly never been happier than in this exact moment.

  
And then his phone vibrates in his pocket, making Lando lift his head up and the moment is ruined. Carlos sighs and opens his eyes again, taking his phone out of his pocket.

  
"It's Dan, he's facetiming us", Carlos shows the silly contact picture of Dan to Lando. Lando rolls his eyes and quickly presses the accept call button.

  
“Hey guys!”, Dan says, all smiles and Lando and Carlos can’t help but smile too when they see his cheerful face.

  
“We were just about to eat pizzas for dinner here!”, he shows them the pizzas and Max, George and Alex sitting next to him. “To celebrate that you two won’t bother us for the next ten days of course”, he explains with a straight face and they all laugh.

  
“How is the weather over there?”, George asks. “Is it as bad as the British weather today? I guess not.”

  
“No, the sun is shining and it’s great!”, Lando gushes and flips the camera to show them. 

  
“Holy shit, how big is that swimming pool?”, Daniel gasps and the other guys’ eyes all grow big.

  
“Big”, Carlos says smugly, enjoying the jealousy on their faces for a moment. He doesn’t understand why he had been so sceptical of Lando’s plan at first. Well, he actually does know why, but hey; he can totally handle hiding his feelings for ten days if this is what he gets for doing that.

  
Lando ends up giving their friends a tour of the house, Carlos following him and adding something helpful here and there, and it feels oddly domestic. They’re just so compatible and it hurts.

  
“Well, we should probably explore the hotel and eat something fancy, no?”, Carlos asks after they ended the facetime with their friends looking slightly envious and Lando and Carlos sniggering softly.

  
“I totally agree. I’m starving!”, Lando says and takes Carlos’ hand, leading him outside and then they’re both running towards the hotel, almost out of breath when they arrive and when Carlos looks at Lando laughing at their ridiculousness he knows this is what he could do for his whole life.

  
-

  
They’ve been at the hotel for a week now, and Carlos thinks he never wants to go back to normal life again.

  
“Carlooooos!”, Lando sing-songs when he’s reading the announcements at the hotel reception.

  
“Yes?”, Carlos asks, wondering what Lando is up to now. He knows that voice all too well.

  
“There’s this dance tonight at the hotel, so I thought… maybe we could go?”

  
Carlos instantly wants to say no. He doesn’t like dancing, simple as that. He thinks Lando doesn’t even particularly like it either.

  
But then he sees the pleading look in Lando’s eyes and he hates that it has such an effect on him. He’s just such a sucker for Lando and the days they spent at the hotel together didn’t exactly help.

  
“Alright, I’ll go to the dance with you”, he gives in and Lando’s just beaming.

  
“Yessss! I’ve always wanted to go to a fancy dance like this!”

  
And that’s how they end up wearing their chicest clothes, sipping on some expensive champagne and watching other people dance around to typical club music. Carlos is glad the music isn’t coming straight from the middle ages at least.

  
“So, are we going to dance now?”, Lando asks and Carlos smirks.

  
“I never said I was actually going to dance”, he teases and Lando rolls his eyes. 

  
"You're such a bore!", Lando sighs and Carlos starts laughing.

  
"Alright, one dance. But I think I'll need a drink first."

  
And that's how they end up on the dance floor, making the most ridiculous dance moves, always trying to be more stupid than one another.

  
A slow song gets played, and everyone starts hugging their partner close to them, and for one second Carlos doesn't really know what to do - is Lando alright with them dancing this close? He knows they pretended to be in a relationship to get here, but that doesn't mean he wants to slow dance with him.

  
He knows panicking was absolutely unnecessary when Lando quickly pulls him closer and smiles against the crook of his neck. Carlos just hopes his best friend doesn't notice how fast his heart is beating.

  
"This is nice", Lando whispers - and is this really happening?

  
"Yeah", Carlos agrees softly and he wishes this mellow love song would never end.

  
He moves his head up and then sees a guy standing at the bar, looking at them and quickly averting his eyes when he notices Carlos saw him. Weird, Carlos thinks.

  
But then he sees the guy blatantly looking at them again, and Carlos realizes he’s looking at Lando. And shit, he knows the feeling going through him is jealousy. Even though he knows he has no right to be jealous, he definitely is.

  
"What are you looking at?", Lando asks him, looking over his shoulder curiously. Carlos blushes and holy shit- did that guy just really wink at Lando? Jesus, he really has no shame, has he?

  
"Nothing", Carlos quickly says and Lando looks over his shoulder suspiciously.

"Have you seen a ghost or something?", Lando laughs, making Carlos roll his eyes and in the background, the song fades into a catchy pop song and just like that, their moment is over. 

  
Carlos slowly removes his arms and hands away from Lando’s body, the pleasant feeling of their two bodies so close to each other now over and he says: “I’m just going to the toilet really quickly.”

  
It’s a stupid excuse really, but it’s all just too much for him all of a sudden. He practically runs off, and he just hears Lando saying that he'll be at the bar to order some drinks for them.

He can't believe he just got jealous over a guy who was looking at Lando. He needs to get over himself, jesus.

But when he comes back from the toilet, he sees Lando standing at the bar next to the guy with soft brown hair who was looking at him and fuck this, he definitely is jealous. Apparently, the guy's not only pretty but funny too, because Lando’s laughing at something the stranger says.

  
A stab of jealousy goes through him and he feels ridiculous. Lando is not his boyfriend, so he can date whoever he wants. He should be happy for his best friend instead of being so childish.

  
He approaches them and Lando smiles when he sees him.

  
"Hey honey", Carlos says and puts his hand on Lando's waist. He doesn't even know what got into him.

Lando eyes him suspiciously and looks at the hand on his waist.

"This is Charles", Lando introduces them and Carlos quickly shakes his hand, "he just came over to ask me where I got my watch from."

Carlos wants to disappear into a black hole and never return again. He's made a fool of himself, truly.

"You guys are very adorable together!", he says with something that sounds like a French accent.

"Thanks", they both say in unison and then Charles goes back to the dance floor again to find his girlfriend. Yep, he has a girlfriend apparently and Carlos is even more embarrassed.

  
“You didn’t have to say I was your boyfriend”, Lando tells Carlos and Carlos shrugs and blushes.

  
“It's to keep up appearances, you know. We don't want someone to discover we're faking it”, he explains and it sounds even more stupid and unbelievable out loud.

"Oh!" Smart, Carlito!", Lando says and gives him a sort of high five.

Yep. Awesome!

  
“Let’s dance some more!”, Lando then says excitedly when a new song comes on and Carlos takes his hand, following him through the crowd. 

-

  
It’s their last night at the hotel, and that obviously needs a fancy dinner.

They’re wearing their fancy clothes (Carlos swooned when he saw Lando) and they’re sat opposite each other, a small candle in the middle of their table.

  
“This is romantic”, Lando laughs and Carlos nods. It is indeed quite romantic, but he just wishes they were an actual couple instead of two best friends faking it.

  
“Have you made your choice?”, the waitress asks with a polite smile and they tell her their orders.

  
The rest of the dinner is spent drinking slightly too much champagne, and Carlos feels himself getting more tipsy and tipsy, and it feels really nice.

  
Lando’s laughing even more than usual so he knows he’s not the only one who feels the effect of the champagne and when he looks into his eyes, he knows there’s nothing he wants more than to just kiss him.

  
They’re getting ready to leave when the waitress shows up again, looking slightly embarrassed and almost hesitant to say something. “Can I just tell you something?”, she says politely, and Carlos just hopes they haven’t done anything which isn’t allowed in the restaurant or something like that.

  
“Yeah sure!”, Lando says.

  
“I don’t want to sound unprofessional but I think you are a beautiful couple. I can just see the love in your eyes. It’s really beautiful.”

  
They’re both too stunned to reply properly, and before they can even say anything, she’s disappeared. 

-

  
They’re slightly drunk when they get back to their room, the champagne now properly doing its work.

  
“Let’s go skinny dipping!’, Lando yells excitedly and is already getting out of his clothes while running to their private swimming pool.

  
Carlos is normally the one of the two of them who would propose something like that, so he doesn’t hesitate one second to jump in after Lando.

  
“I love life!”, Lando shouts when he comes up again and Carlos laughs.

I love life too, Carlos thinks. Swimming naked together in a private swimming pool in the Caribbean, hello yeah.

  
They’re sitting on one of the lounge chairs after they got out of the water, both wearing a fluffy towel when Lando suddenly asks: “Would you have ever dated me if we hadn’t decided to fake it?”

  
Carlos is silent for a couple of seconds and then says: “Yes.”

  
Carlos doesn’t even know why he said it. Like okay, he might be a bit drunk and that may have helped, but still.

  
“Oh”, Lando says, sounding slightly soberer than he did just a minute ago. “Do you like guys?”

  
“I think so.”

"Do you like me?", Lando then asks and Carlos decides fuck it.

"Yeah."

"Oh", Lando says again.

It's silent for a couple of seconds and Carlos hates himself and that stupid champagne.

This is exactly why he kept his mouth shut about his feelings. He just didn't want to ruin their friendship. He didn't want to think about stupid feelings getting in the way of them being them. And this is exactly what's happening now. Lando doesn't feel the same way about him and now it's awkward and weird between them.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”, Lando then finally asks, sounding a tad bit hurt.

  
“I didn’t want to make things weird between us. And also, I tried to give a couple of hints but they weren't that clear apparently.”

  
“I don't think you've made things weird between us”, Lando says softly.

"Lando, I have. You don't have feelings for me and that sucks, but I'll get over it. And now it's all awkward and stupid and I just wish I'd never–"

And then Lando kisses him. Holy shit. For a couple of seconds he's too stunned to do anything, but when he feels Lando almost moving away he kisses him back, and he's kissing him like he's never kissed before.

“I wouldn’t really mind dating you for real either”, Lando says when they're softly looking into each others eyes after the kiss and Carlos smiles.

“I’ve been crushing on you since I first laid eyes on you! Why haven’t you told me anything?”, Carlos asks, happiness obvious in his voice.

"I don't know? Maybe because you are practically a Spanish god and way out of my league? Also, I didn't want to make things weird between us."

"You do realise I've liked you from the first moment we met, right?"

Lando blushes and throws his arms around Carlos. "Same. I couldn't believe someone like you actually talked to me."

"Also, I have to admit something", Lando suddenly whispers. "I totally used the contest as a desperate attempt to make my feelings for you clear. I had decided that I would just tell you at the end of our trip, because I couldn't handle it anymore."

"Oh cariño", Carlos laughs, "I'm glad you came up with that plan. At least one of us has some guts."

  
"I'm a genius, I know", Lando says with a wink and Carlos rolls his eyes fondly.

  
“Maybe we can talk more about this tomorrow, so we can spend our last night here doing other stuff?”, Carlos asks with a wink and Lando laughs, quickly agreeing when Carlos kisses him again.

  
-

  
“So, you finally got together”, Dan sighs when they’ve told their friends the whole story of their vacation.

  
“Finally guys!”, Alex says, “I don’t know how much longer I could’ve dealt with those longing looks and those love eyes between you two!’

  
“Yes, absolutely sickening”, George agrees.

  
“I still think it’s unfair you two won a couples trip!”, Max complains in the background, earning him a “shut up Max!” from everyone else.

  
“Oh sorry, but at least I won our bet on when you guys would get together! I was the only one who didn’t overestimate how dumb and blind you two are!”, he laughs and waves the bills in his hand at the rest of them.

  
Carlos and Lando cannot do anything else but roll their eyes at their friends, and Carlos takes Lando’s hand in his and looks at his boyfriend with the same look he’s looked at him since forever.

  
And when Lando smiles softly at him, also looking in the same way he’s always looked at Carlos, he knows exactly nothing has changed between them.

**Author's Note:**

> Dear scarletred, I hope you liked it! I really enjoyed writing it :)
> 
> Thanks for reading!  
> find me on tumblr: [carlandooo](http://carlandooo.tumblr.com)


End file.
